The present invention relates to a mobile network system having an IP service control mechanism enabling the administration and execution of a value added service in unit of a terminal (subscriber) in an IP network system including a mobile environment and a service control information changing method.
There are listed below some abbreviations for use in this specification, which are typically used in the communications field. These abbreviations are suitably utilized for explanation throughout this specification.                AAA . . . Authentication Authorization and Accounting        AAAF . . . Authentication Authorization and Accounting-Foreign        AAAH . . . Authentication Authorization and Accounting-Home        AVP . . . Attribute Value Pair        CLI . . . Command Line Interface        CN . . . Correspondent Node        COPS . . . Common Open Policy Service        FA . . . Foreign Agent        HA . . . Home Agent        HTTP . . . Hyper Text Transfer Protocol        IETF . . . Internet Engineering Task Force        IP . . . Internet Protocol        ISP . . . Internet Service Provider        MN . . . Mobile Node        NAI . . . Network Access Identifier        PBN . . . Policy-Based Networking        RADIUS . . . Remote Authentication Dial In User Service        RFC . . . Request For Comments        SLA . . . Service Level Agreement        SNMP . . . Simple Network Management Protocol        SPC . . . Service Profile Cache        SPDB . . . Service Profile Data Base        UDP . . . User Datagram Protocol        WUI . . . Web User Interface        WWW . . . World Wide Web        
In an IP network having the audio communication and the data communication integrated and to which a wide variety of terminals are connected, the implementation of a QoS assurance is requisite in order to protect a delay sensitive traffic or a high priority traffic on the business. As a method of realizing the QoS assurance, the methods Int-Serv and Diff-Serv have been proposed, but a Diff-Serv support with less overhead is most likely as the carrier network or back-bone network. However, the Diff-Serv needs a policy setting to the network equipment on the communication path, resulting in the problem that with the Diff-Serv singly the network administration becomes intricate. Therefore, a concept of the PBN (Policy-Based Networking) for collectively effecting the policy setting to the network equipment from the policy server has been proposed mainly by Venda in the United States.
FIG. 77 is a block diagram of the conventional network for explaining the concept of the PBN. In the PBN, the policy server sets an operation policy of network to a network equipment group, and the network equipment group refers to this set policy, thereby implementing the services with the QoS assurance.
As the conventional techniques associated with the mobile IP, a method of employing the Mobile-IP in cooperation with the DIAMETER that is the AAA protocol, and a mobile IP network as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 996830024A have been well known. FIG. 78 is a block diagram of the mobile IP network as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 996830024A.
For example, with the method (draft-calhoun-diameter-mobileip-03.txt) of employing the Mobile-IP in cooperation with the DIAMETER (draft-calhoun-diameter-10.txt) that is the AAA protocol, in an IP network where a plurality of local area networks are present, the Mobile-IP for supporting the location registration of the mobile terminal equipment and the transfer of IP packets destined to the mobile terminal equipment and the DIAMETER for supporting the AAA in the network where there are a plurality of ISPs are employed in cooperation, whereby the IP packet transfer to the Mobile-IP mounting terminal and the AAA were enabled in the environment where there are a plurality of ISPs.
In order to effect the service control to deal with the mobile terminal equipment in the IP network where there are a plurality of ISPs, a method was disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 996830024A, in which the service control information is set to the HA or FA that is an edge apparatus within the network at the time of executing an initial location registration phase of the mobile terminal equipment in accordance with the mobile IP and the DIAMETER. In particular, in order to implement a service control method for individual subscribers on a plurality of ISP networks, the service control information is set to the node on the transfer path of IP packets for the mobile terminal equipment in making an initial location registering procedure which is performed when the mobile terminal equipment is moved.
By the way, considering the policy setting for each mobile terminal equipment in the PBN, it is required that the policy may be reset for all the network equipment groups that can possibly accommodate the mobile terminal equipment at the time of adding or altering the policy, resulting in a problem that the policy setting process amount is increased over the overall network. Further, in order to apply the information notified with the PBN to a fundamental service provided individually such as the mobile IP, the determination of the specifications for application to services and the review for the mounting method were required.
In particular, in a seamless global network comprising various providers or carriers for supporting the mobile terminal equipment, all the local area networks must be able to determine the policy for the user who has the possibility of connection and set the information to the network equipment. To effect this with the PBN, it is requisite that the policy information of all the users is carried locally, or the information is preset to all the network equipment having the possibility. It is very inefficient or unrealistic that the policy information is carried or set to about hundred million users. Also, if the policy information of all the users is carried in the network equipment at any time, the memory capacity of the network equipment is increased, resulting in reduced processing ability. On the contrary, in the case where a method of making an inquiry to the policy server at each time is adopted, the overhead due to the inquiry may occur, bringing about the risk that the SLA can not be followed.
Also, the method of employing the Mobile-IP in cooperation with the DIAMETER that is the AAA protocol supports a function of setting the information required for the transfer of packets to the mobile terminal equipment to the FA or HA which is the edge apparatus within the network, but not a function of setting the service control information to deal with the mobile terminal equipment.
In the method as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 996830024A, the service control information to deal with the mobile terminal equipment is set only when the initial location registration due to the movement of the mobile terminal equipment is effected, and the service control information to be set is the fixed information produced at the time when the mobile terminal equipment has made a contract with the ISP, which information can not be altered flexibly online upon a request from the mobile terminal equipment. The service control for the user is agreed by the user who has made a contract with the ISP, and fixed, and is not adaptive to a network service form for the user that occurs after the contract, resulting in a problem that any flexible measure such as utilizing an idle network resource upon a request from the user can not be taken.